Holy mackerel! Belfast warned not to eat free fish

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — This fish tale might be a wee bit hard to stomach.

Belfast City Council is advising its citizens: Don't eat fish found lying on the roadside. They're too fishy.

Tuesday's health warning follows the accidental dumping of thousands of mackerel on to the busy Ravenhill Road, apparently by a delivery truck with a loose back door. Locals grabbed bags to haul in their catch before passing cars could turn the stranded school to pulp.

Tommy Bardsley says he bagged 25 mackerel and deemed them off-the-boat fresh. "I know fish," the 61-year-old declared.

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Tongue-Eating Louse Found In Supermarket Fish Freaks Out Unsuspecting Customer (Mealbreakers)(PHOTOS)

Mealbreaker (n.): a nasty, non-edible surprise found in food while it is being eaten; often lawsuit-provoking, sometimes fabricated, always disgusting.

One Belfast man wasn't pleased to find that something extra had come with his recent fish purchase. We can see why: Upon preparing the sea bass for dinner, Rick Beattie discovered a large parasitic louse in its mouth.

Beattie, who had purchased the fish at a Tesco location in Belfast, was promised a refund after he brought the incident to the grocery's attention. "It was like something from a horror film," Beattie said, according to SWNS.com. "I'm sure other Tesco customers would be interested."

The parasite, known as the tongue-eating louse or Cymothoa exigua, enters a fish through its gills and attaches itself to the creature's tongue. Once in place, the louse destroys the fish's tongue, replacing it. The louse does not appear to hurt the fish in any other way. They're not believed to be dangerous to humans, although they can bite if picked up alive.

A Tesco spokesman stressed that the company wishes to undertake an "an urgent and thorough investigation" of the fish's supplier, Yahoo writes. "We have very high standards for food quality," he said. "[B]oth we and our suppliers have robust checks in place to ensure that our food meets those standards." It has asked Beattie to provide the fish in question to aid the investigation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/tongue-eating-louse-supermarket-fish_n_3111599.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

'Sewerface’ lurking in city underground

What really lurks beneath our homes? The answer, in Newtownbreda, is Sewerface!


NI Water recently carried out CCTV investigations on a sewer in the outskirts of Belfast and instead of finding the usual items like baby wipes, they found a new spooky friend that would give Lady Gaga a run for her money!

Commenting on the discovery, Davy Sloan, NI Water field manager for the area said: “NI Water constantly finds inappropriate items dumped down the sewer. Items vary from nappies, wipes, sanitary products and cotton buds which wash into pumping stations and block the pumps.

“They also block sewers which often causes internal and external flooding. This time however, the CCTV picked up a spooky face at the end of the tunnel.

“We think the image is a result of a combination of the bend in the sewer line and variations in light.”

He added: “Some of the guys have given our new spooky friend a few nicknames, ‘Silver Surfer’ and ‘the Phantom Pipe’, however, Sewerface seemed more appropriate.”

In a more serious message, NI Water urged householders to be more responsible with the disposal of their bathroom waste.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/sewerface_lurking_in_city_underground_1_2884174

Coati missing from Belfast Zoo thought still alive

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11097525

Coati missing from Belfast Zoo thought still alive
By Niall Glynn BBC News
White nosed coati The coati has been missing since 19 July

The manager of Belfast Zoo has said he is confident a racoon-like animal which escaped more than five weeks ago is still alive.

The white-nosed coati from Belize escaped from the north Belfast site on Monday 19 July.

"While it remains relatively mild we're presuming it's still alive," zoo manager Mark Challis said.

"They're resourceful, relatively tough animals and there's a good presumption that it's still alive."

The mammal was being held in quarantine after just arriving at the zoo.

It had been hoped the female would take part in a breeding programme with several other coatis recently imported.

Mr Challis said there had been three sightings of the coati on the periphery of the zoo two weeks ago, but none since.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote

This is a small mammal, no bigger than a domestic cat and by nature it's not going to be looking for a confrontation with dogs or cats"

End Quote Mark Challis Belfast Zoo manager

"It was quite reassuring to have these sightings close to the zoo, because that's what we thought it would do, because it knew the site and obviously we were putting food out for it as well.

"So we're hopeful that it's still quite close to us," he said.

"If we do get a good sighting of it, we're ready to run wherever we're needed."

The coati is an omnivorous animal and is likely to be surviving on fruits, berries and leaves as well as mice and small birds,

The zoo manager stressed that it was no threat to any domestic pets it may cross paths with.

"This is a small mammal, no bigger than a domestic cat and by nature it's not going to be looking for a confrontation with dogs or cats or anything like that," he said.

"By nature it's going to be more shy and retiring than that."

While so far the coati seems to be staying close to the zoo, two previous escapees were found further afield.

Two different red pandas escaped in 1999 and 2002.

"One was put up a tree by fox hounds in Templepatrick and we caught the other one in a garden on the outskirts of Glengormley," Mr Challis said.

The Return of the Giant Hogweed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10685437

Central Asian plant weeds its way into east BelfastA dangerous plant species has been found alive and well in east Belfast.An invasion of the Giant Hogweed was located in the vicinity of the Danny Blanchflower Stadium and Sydenham By-Pass.Environmental health officers from Belfast City Council are working with Roads Service staff to treat the invasive and potentially dangerous plant species, whose sap can cause skin irritation.The treatment will take several days for the chemicals to take effect.Local Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle became aware of the "nuisance" weeds after he was contacted by local residents, who were concerned at the extent of the problem."Giant Hogweed is not an issue I hear about every day."

I have learnt that it is a problem that we do need to deal with," he said."The Roads Service and the City council response has been prompt and effective."They're getting on top of things and the public don't need to be unduly concerned."Orla Maguire is a Biodiversity officer at Belfast City Council and is involved in the operation to remove the Giant Hogweed."It is not so much that it's difficult to get rid off, the problem is, it is very successful," she said."Each plant can produce 20-50,000 seeds, so if it gets to a stage where it is allowed to seed and allowed to happen over a number of years, you are going to get a build up of seeds in the soil, a seed bank."These can be viable for up to seven years, other people say up to 15, the problem is when you have the large seed banks."It is the world's largest weed and originates in Central Asia.It can reach up to 3.65m (12ft) in height and has leaves 91cm (36in) long.They spread only by seed, but each individual can bear up to 80,000 seeds, making them very successful propagators.Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is an offence to plant Giant Hogweed or to cause it to grow.Andrew Hawlstead from the Royal Horticultural Society explained how the plant from Asia ended up on these shores."

Originally it was introduced as a garden plant and then people realised what a thug it is in the garden and how it spreads rapidly by seed."It produces these giant plants which shade out native vegetation plus you have the added problem of the irritant sap, so these days it is illegal to allow it to be planted."It is a weed which needs eradicated."He also warned people against touching the plant."The problem with this plant is the sap, if you get the sap on your skin and it is unexposed to bright sunlight, it makes the skin come up in very painful blisters and can cause quite prolonged discolouration of the skin."